Cutting boards are well known in the art. They are primarily designed to provide a surface on which to prepare and cut a variety of foods. Many of these boards have two usable surfaces. The surface that is being used faces up and the surface that is not being used faces down towards the counter top that the cutting board is resting on. Some cutting boards have footings on one or both surfaces to provide traction. The footings also raise the unused surface away from the counter top so that juice dripping from cut food will not cause a slippery condition between the unused surface and the counter top.
A disadvantage of many such prior boards is that their footings are permanently attached to the surface of the boards by a variety of methods. This permanence causes a build-up of food particles in the crevices around and between the footing and the board which makes cleaning very difficult. This form of attachment also promotes the growth of bacteria inside the crevices which can spread from these areas, thereby making the surface(s) unsanitary and unsuitable to prepare food on. U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,273 to Sellers demonstrates this disadvantage. Sellers, for example, discusses a wooden cutting board having a plurality of fraction plates that are made of a rigid molded plastic, wherein each traction plate has a plurality of legs having circular attachment disks mounted therein for firm attachment of the fraction plates so that the traction plates will not be removable once inserted. U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,685 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,478,292 disclose other forms of footings that are permanently attached to cutting boards and suffer from the same disadvantage.
Another disadvantage of many such prior boards with permanent footings is that their footings can break down or fall off from the use of detergents through washing by hand or in the dishwasher. If any of the feet are damaged or lost, the cutting boards will be unstable and unsafe to use. For cutting boards with removable footings, the disadvantages are that once the footings are removed, they are prone to being misplaced among a variety of kitchen gadgets and appliances because of their small size. The small footings can also fall into drain holes and be lost during washing and scrubbing. If they are not removed before washing, then they face the disadvantages of cutting board with permanently attached footings. U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,969 B2 to Diermeier, et al. demonstrates these disadvantages with removable footings that can be misplaced when taken off or lost while being washed in the sink, or have the disadvantages of cutting boards with permanently attached footings.